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A couple lose two children to a rare genetic disease. They allow researchers to use their dead children's tissue to advance scientific understanding. They later discover that the researchers have patented the gene coding for the disease and increased the price of testing for other families. The law ruled there was nothing the couple could do.
Ethical dilemmas such as these are becoming increasingly common as scientific advances in biotechnology outstrip the ability of the law and wider society to keep pace with them. This is where bioethics comes in: it helps untangle some of these knotty problems on the cutting edge of biological science. Donna Dickenson's All That Matters: Bioethics argues that although we are entering new territory, that doesn't mean we have to jettison all our existing moral sense. By discussing a wide range of real-life cases, her books equips the reader with the tools to make up his or her own mind in the debate.
She tackles questions such as: Should scientists be allowed to get on with research with minimal regulation, as free-market enthusiasts believe? How can we get beyond the tabloid scaremongering about 'Frankenstein science' and hype about gene therapy? Is it reasonable to take out a patent on life?
The positive message of the book is that good science and good ethics aren't necessarily contradictory.
Professor Donna Dickenson is one of the world's leading authorities in Bioethics. Her academic career spans 40 years and includes over 20 books. She is Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics and Humanities at the University of London and holds honorary posts at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford. She won the 'International Spinoza Lens Award' in 2006 for her campaigning work.
